Heel-building device



March 25, 1924. 1,487,986

W. E. SMALL HEEL BUILDING D'EVICE Filed Feb. 1. 1-921 I uu u ngnlm ngl lmq 1 awvue/wtm 3% 5 W/LL/AMEMHLL Patented Mar. aft, 1924.

rates WILLIAM E7 SMALL, OF BROGKLYIT, NEW YORK.

HEEL-BUILDING DEVICE.

Application filed February 1, 1921. Serial No. 441,538.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, VILLIAM E. SMALL, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at 452 Green Avenue, Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Heel-Building Devices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device for shaping and building heels for shoes, where'- in lifts of various sizes and shapes are se lected, glued and assembled together, then the whole assembled heel pressed, when they are then ready for further operation.

An object of my invention is to provide a simple, cheap and expeditious Way of building up heels of various sizes and shapes is a suitable building member or device, which is not only substantial and reliable but is also permanent, so that the same device may be continuously used for the purpose, and when the heel is further completed may be fitted to the shoe with no difficulty and with accuracy. With such device the operatoris enabled to build heels of a given height with the utmost facility, without having to employ a great variety of special or adjustable forms, or the attending to the other numerous detail required by such devices or machines.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device upon which either flat or in clined heels may be built, the device having a breast plate which may be calibrated for the purpose of producing any number of diferent varieties of. height of the heel by the one device without any alteration or changes wherein heels of any desired height, pitch and size may be built, after which the heel so built, is placed under pressure, by which means each and every heel built is pressed to a given height.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, further objects and advantages will appear as the description of the invention is hereinafter developed. 7

Referring to the drawings wherein is shown what is now considered to be the pre ferred form of my invention:

Figural, is a side view of my heel build ing device applied to a machine.

Figure 2, enlarged, partial top plan view of the breast plate showingkey and heel in position.

Figure 3, a partial top plan View of parts shown in Figure 1, showing one slide eX- tended ready to receive the lifts.

Figure 4C, a partial section view of the clamping device.

Figure 5, a built up heel detached from the device.

Figure 6, a modified form of breast plate.

Figure 7, shows another modified form of that shown in Figures 2 and 6.

There are two forms of built up heels, one in which the various lifts are nailed together, and the other where they are glued or cemented together; it is to this latter class to which my invention is an improvement. 7

it is the style at present to have high heels on all of the ladies shoes and slippers, and it is with great difiiculty they are built, and by reason of the methods employed, cause the production of perfect heels at a great expense, first on account of the necessity to have a great number of various forms both special and adjustable for the build ing of the several special styles, and secondly on account of the imperfect ones so made with such special and adjustable devices.

My device is applicable to be applied to any of the well known machines or may be user separate therefrom, or used by a device wherein there will be a base, 1, suitably supported by a column, 2, adapted to revolve around the same, either manually or by power. Above such base is provider a pressure board, 3, which adjustable thereon-by means of a nut, it; and which causes uniform pressure on the heels as they are so introduced under such z'n'essure board, the shoulder, 5, bein such as to not only sustain the parts, but also such pressure as may be exerted in pressing the various lifts of the heel together.

Referring to the Figure l, the base 6 of the heel building device comprises a number of sliding lllGl'llbtllmj, each having secured to its front end a breast plate 8 the latter may have a bore. are which is a suitable guide it), having an extension therefrom rseferably in the shape of a dove tall 11 which forms a key, t which each and every lift 3% is applied, and which. together with the breast plate 8 prevents any movement of the lifts to the right or left or backwards by reason of the lrey holding them secure. At 12 may be pivoted an equalizer l3 adapt;

ed to be raised or lowered by any suitable means, such, for instance, as a movable wedge 14 that may be suitably held in line with the equalizer by a bolt 15 after making the adjustment for the proper height heel;

When the operator is about to build heels, he extends the slide 7 as shownin Figure 3 ,he sitting in front of the device with the necessary sizes of lifts 34 grouped about him so as to be convenient to reach and apply to the form. After the various lifts have had adhesive material applied and have been assembled in the devieerone on the other, the slide 7 is then pushed back as shown on Figure 1, where it is locked to the extension 16, such extension may have a lever 17 provided with a slot, which when fitted over the pin 18 on the breast plate 8, will clamp the parts together and prevent separation when further pressure is applied to the heel.

. The extension 16 is provided with a sleeve 37 carrying on the upper end a gear 38, said sleeve and gear are threaded internally to receive a screw 19, carrying on its upper end a roller 21 and on the lower end provided with a pivoted foot 22, which will adapt itself to any angle that the heel may be built. To the rear of the screw may be placed a suitable support 23 for a pressure arm 2 the latter adapted to be brought down on the top of the gear 38 in any approved manner, but in this particular instance it is preferred to use can eccentrically pivoted lever 25, having a handle 26, which by turning the same causes the pivoted foot to be forced against the top of the built up heel. This is what may be termed the first pressure.

The base 1 containing the slide 7 and carrying the extension 1 6, may be turned around manually or by power as is usual on machines, with the result that another slide is presented to the operator, thus the same operations are repeated over and over again, each heel as it receives the requisite number-of lifts to have it of a given height, has a certain amount of pressure applied immediately'to squeeze all superfluous glue or cement from between the layers or lifts, and while the next heel is being built the said cement in the previous built heel has become set so that a further pressure may be exerted on the built up stack of lifts 3% by an auxiliary clamping means, such for example as by turning by hand or otherwise the small pinion 27, suitably mounted on the extension 16, and which meshes with the gear 38. As each heel is finished, it in turn is introduced to the various pressure till they reach the presser table, where the heel receives its final and constant pressure, till finally released from the device, when it will be found that each and every liftis absolutely and. prefectly locked to the others,

so that it is only necessary to further shaped for theshoe.

About 30 to 50 heels are made before the it maybe found advantageous under certain circumstances to place non-slip projections or spurs 29 on the breast plate as shown in 'Fig. 6. The non-slips may be permanently fixed on the breastplate 8, there being no necessity for them to be otherwise, as the heel will readily become detached from the device as soon as the key 11' is extracted therefrom. Again, these 11OIl-SllPSHlZ1Y fit within like apertures in each of the lifts, by this means there is nopossible way in which any of'the lifts may slip or slide to one or the other side, even if the lifts are a little thicker on one side than the other. Again, where a low flat heel may be employed as for example on mens shoes, slippers, etc., where no wedge'lifts are necessary, itwill be found advantageous to provide only the non-slips 29, as they would hold the several layers of lifts that would be assembled, any one or more of which may be of an uneven thickness from moving sidewise when the pressure is applied. The non-slipswillnot only provide against slipping sidew'ise, but will act as the key tohold the lifts in position when thepressure isplaced upon the mass. p Q

As a further convenience and means fo expediting the work, a foot treadle 30 is suitably pivoted at 31 to the standard 2, and may be provided with any suitable means for returningv the same, as for example by a spring 32, and having a foot rest 33 for the operator to extract the key 11.

By my device itwill be'se'en that it is absolutely impossible for the lifts when assembled on the dove tail key 11 with their faces against the breast plate, to slip or slide sidewise or otherwise, by reason of their faces being locked in contact with the breast plate. Thus with my device as has been before noted any size, height or shaped heel maybe formed on the device without any changes, the one device answering forany and all purposes of heel building.

With my device it is proposed touseglue or cement, and it is my purpose to; apply the same with the brush as is also usually done at the present time, but it may be applied by spraying each of the lifts in any suitable'manner before they are placed one on the other, again, theleather may be glued or otherwise treated with an adhesive, be-

fore the various size pieces are cut out, in which case it would only be necessary to spray water over the Various lifts to sufficiently moisten the glue to make them adhere to the others when placed in position. Thus it will also be seen the various size lifts to build a given size, shape and height heel may be so assembled in the shortest possible time, with the maximum amount of certainty as to their height and perfection and after the said heels have passed around under the pressure board 3, every heel will be perfect in every detail. Again as will be noted, all forms whether they be special or adjustable are dispensed with, thus causing a great saving.

It is usual in the old methods to build a number of dozens of pairs of heels before any are placed under pressure. They are built and allowed to stand till the required number to fill a board have been made, then they are placed thereon, and the lot placed under pressure.

Again by building heels in such manner, the lifts slip and slide according to the pressure to one side or the other, or under certain circumstances they may slip backwards, this is always possible when building heels with wedge shaped lifts, in these stock forms referred to, and pressing them as described. Thus it is, that each and every defective heel must be torn apart and cleaned before reassembling, in which case it is extra expense. In my improvement herein described and shown all of such defects are not only cured but cannot occur.

In accordance with the provisions of the Patent Statutes, I have herein described the principle of my invention which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the various forms are only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out in other ways than those described.

Also while I have described the means for extracting the key, yet it. is to be understood that the key could remain stationary in the device shown in Fig. 2 and the built up heel removed instead. Again it is to be understood that instead of the locking key protruding from the breast plate and having a way in the lifts, that these conditions may be reversed as shown in Fig. 7, by numerals 11, 29 and 3 .2 with all the efficiency and exactness of that previously described, it being merely a matter only from the manufaeturefs point of view.

\Vhile the pressure board as shown is cut away for some distance so as to permit of the various pressure regulating devices being applied to the built up heel, yet it will be understood that such board which is stationary may be provided with an inclined or beveled approach, where the roller when it reaches the same is gradually forced further downward by reason of the work table being revolved, until the roller has reached the end of the incline, where the same uniform pressure will be applied to the several assembled heels while thereunder. These and all other changes are intended to come within the scope of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of building heels of separate lifts which comprise assembling said lifts one upon another, interlocking said lifts with a holder for preventing slipping of the lifts with respect to each other, applying pressure to the assembled mass, and unlocking said mass after pressure has been applied.

2. The method of building heels of separate lifts which comprises assembling said lifts one upon another, applying an adhesive to the lifts, interlocking said lifts to a holder for preventing slipping of the lifts with respect to each other, applying pressure to the assembled mass, and unlocking said mass after pressure has been applied.

3. A heel building device comprising in combination, a breast plate, a platform pivotally mounted adjacent thereto, for receiving the lifts, means for varying the inclination of said platform, means for applying pressure to the lifts, and means for locking said lifts to said breast plate.

4. A heel building device comprising in combination, a breast plate, a platform secured thereto for receiving the lifts, a plunger movable towards said platform for applying pressure to the lifts, and a plurality of means for selectively forcing said plunger against the lifts.

5. A heel building device comprising in combination, means for receiving the lifts, a rotatable sleeve, a plunger threaded within said sleeve, a support within which said sleeve is slidably mounted, means for sliding said sleeve together with said plunger for applying pressure to the lifts, and means for rotating said sleeve.

' 6. A heel building device comprising in combination, a rotatable member provided with lift receiving means, a rotatable sleeve slidably mounted with respect to said memher, a plunger threaded within said sleeve. means for sliding said sleeve together with said plunger for applying pressure to the lifts, meansfor rotating said sleeve, and means including a stationary table for applying further pressure to said plunger.

7. A heel building device comprising a plate against which the lifts are adapted to abut, and a guide cooperating with said plate and provided with a locking extension for holding the lifts in place.

8. A heel building device comprising a plate against which the lifts are adapted to abut, and means for to said plate.

9. A. heel building device comprising a plate against which the lifts are adapted to abut, said plate being provided with means for co-operating with the lifts to lock the latter in assembled position.

10. A heel building device comprising a plate against which the lifts are adapted to abut said plate being shaped to fit the breast of the lifts, and means for locking the lifts to said plate.

11. A heel building device comprising a breast plate, a guide co-opcrating therewith and provided with a locking extension, a platform pivotally mounted adjacentsaid breast plate for receiving the layersof lifts, and means for varying the inclination of said platform.

12. A heel building device comprising a sliding base having a heel building breast plate a movable guide centrally located within the same and having an outwardly extending locking means secured thereto, nonslips located on each side of such last. mentioned means for holding the lifts in position, a movable means: suitably secured to the breast plate whereby flat or inclined heels may be assembled to the desired height, and means for extracting the locking means from the mass after pressure has been applied.

13. A slidable heel building device secured to a revolving platform provided with means for holding lifts of various sizes in place against movement in either of a plurality of directions, in combination with a movable foot adapted to be applied to the top of the assembled layers, and means for applying a plurality of pressures to the assembled mass before being removed from said device.

14. The combinationin a device for-building heels of lifts, of a breast plate, of lifts provided with means for locking them to such breast plate, of means for applying pressure to the stack of lifts, and means permitting the removing of the built up mass from the device.

15. The combination of a pillar or support for heel building machines provided with a working revolving table, such table locking the lifts provided with a plurality of movable heel building devices, means therein for holding securely the several layers of lifts, means for locking the pressure means to the de vice, with means for applying pressure to the assembled mass, of additional screw pressure applying means, and auxiliary iaa'taeo means for so applying it, and a pressure board for operating on the roller carried by said screw to give a uniform pressure to all the various forms thereunder, whereby the heels will all be of a uniform height. 16. In a heel building device, having a pillar or support for the revolving work table, the combination of a presser board adjustably mounted on said. support, a plurality of heel building devices carried by the work table, an extension on each device adapted to be locked thereto and having pressure exerting means thereon to be applied to the assembled lifts, and addi tional means for applying pressure to said suitable threaded rod adapted to be o Jerated through said sleeve, said rod having a pivoted foot on its lower end, and a roller on its upper end, a pressure lever adapted to press on the sleeve, and on the assembled mass, a second gear to mesh with the gear on the sleeve whereby further pressure is applied tothe foot, and a pressure table so arranged that when the r ller enters thereunder the entire mass of'lifts is given a uniform pressure.

18. VA heel building device provided with i a key for holding the various lifts in rela tive position to each other;

19. A heel building device having an equalizer hinged therein with means for adjusting it thereto, amovable key for holding the lifts on the equalizer, and means for extracting the key after pressure has been applied.

20. That method of building up heels for boots and shoes from separate lifts, which consists in providing each lift with an interlocking portion, stacking the lifts in superposed relation on a guide having a complemental interlocking portion. and slidably interlocking said portions'of tie lifts and the guide, comprcssingthe superposed lifts into a homogeneous heel struc-. ture, and finally removing the interlocking portion of the guide from the compressed heel structure to free the same.

In testimony whereof I'have ailixcd my signature. r r

7 w LLni E. siii'k 

